Manually operated arresting hook



Sept. 17, 1946. G. w.LEscHER EIAL MANUALLY OPERATED ARRESTING HOOK Filed Aug. 10, 1937 G. W Lesa/7E1", Whf 5/2221;

INVENTORS ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 17, 1946 I l f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MANUALLY OPERATED ARRESTING nooK George W. Lescher, Garden City, and Walter H. Steet, Roosevelt, N. Y., assignors to Republic Aviation Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application August 10, 1937, Serial No. 158,274 6 Claims. (Cl. 244-110) The present inventive concepts relate to the needed most; or else have involved cumbersome arresting-gear of aircraft, particularly those airthrottle-handle devices.

craft which ar operated from special aero- The structure shown in the drawing comprises dromes, such as the flying deck of an aircraftanairplane I, having a fuselage 2, and the rest carrier. 5 of the components of a high-speed aircraft-car- More specifically, the invention is concerned rier airplane. Suitably mounted on a transverse with an operating mechanism for such arresting pivot 3, near the bottom of the fuselage is an'ar gear, and its chief object is to provide arrestingresting hook. 4, here shown as partially in exgear retracting and extending mechanism which tended position for engaging suitable complewill incorporate a control member which can be mentary means on the deck of the carrier. The operated as instinctively, especially by military hook includes a bellcrank extension 5, projecting pilots, as firing a pistol, thus distracting their atsome distance upwardly into the rear interior of tention from their other piloting duties as little the fuselage. Near the end of the lever 5 is at:

V as possible. tached one terminus of an endless cable 6, which It is also one of the objects of th invention cable leads thence around a fixed pulley I, atto provide an operating member per se which will tached to the left-hand side of the fuselage, as be smooth, easy and dependable in operation, emshown, and thence around another fixed pulley bodying no danger of jamming or transverse ro- 8, attached above the first pulley and adjacent tation, as at the crucial moment of landing or the pilots left-hand. Thence the cable enters a taking oil, and instead being practically fool- 2 tube, or casing 9, here shown as substantially proof. square in cross-section, and attached by means A further particular object of the invention of brackets l0 and II, riveted to the skin of the is to provide an improved retracting-gear fuselage and to the casing, as best seen in Fig, 3. crating control of this type which will involve The other terminus I2,.of the endless cable 6,

no cumbrous part and instead will incorporate is attached at, or very near, the extremity of the but the minimum of parts to thereby not only l v r 5, whence it passes over a sprin -m nte render operation and installation simple, but to floating pulley e sp resiliently'loads adapt it to rapid, large-scale production, yet the entire cable and all members attached therewhich will be rugged and durable withal to. From the pulley l3, the cable passes around The other objects, resultsand advantages f a fixed pulley l5, which directs it upwardly to the invention will manifest themselves as this another fixed pulley I 6, whence it passes into disclosure progresses. the box, or casing 9.

An illustrative form of the invention is shown h casing 9 is hollow, and its bottom face, inthe accompanying drawing, but it is to be as best seen in Fig. 3, is longitudinally slotted, as understood that the invention is limited in its at I1. A longitudinal member l8 in the casing 9 embodiments only by the scope of the subjoined includes a pair of special plates having ears l9 claims. In the drawingat each end, and the endless cable has its upper Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side-elevation 0f termini securel clamped, or otherwise fastened an i p a o the y used n board aircrafttherebetween, as at 20. The longitudinal memcarriers, with the arresting hook partially down, her "3 is beuied out in central portion as Rreparatory alighting on the deck of the shown, and includes horizontal slots 2|, in which her.

are horizontally mounted rollers 22, carrying a l Figure 2 is a side-elevation, partly broken ball-bearin mechanism, such as 23, on vertical away and pamym sectlon, an lmpcrtam shafts 24 The rollers 22 are each of such diponent of the invention. and

Figure 3 is a cross-section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2. ameter as to i at t ends of their Arresting-gear operating controls have been i g the contlguous of the casmg, proposed hitherto, but they have usually involved slmllar rollers 25 are slmllarly baubea'rmg concentric tubes one bearing a cammandle, or mounted on horizontal, transverse shafts 26, and latch, or rotatable lever, with consequent lia- Contact h bottom inner Walls of the Casing bility of undesired instability, and lateral rota- This combination rollers Working against tion and concomitant excessive friction or jamt r sp t v y pp s t d s a hollow as mine of the grip member; or bending, buckling obviates the necessity for employing the usual and jamming of the concentric tubes, obviously levered-cylinder with the lever working in a thus rendering the control inoperative just when down-ended cam-way in a concentric cylinder, or

Or grip 21, having a trigger 28 pivoted thereto at.

29. The" trigger -28 ispreferably constructed in the form of a bellcrank lever, the other arm of which, 30, is pivotally connected to a loaded, vertically reciprocating rod 3|.

is'loaded, preferably, by a helical,spring,.,aszshown. The rod bears a head 32,. engaging..a detentmember 33, for engaging with'jholes 34'; A-hole spring- The rod' '10 34 is provided at each of those pointsalongi, the 7 upper face of the casing 9 corresponding to the fully retracted, or fully extended, positions of the hook 4, and serve to positively,-but disengageably;

lock the hook in either position. I Thus, by means of the pistol-grip and trigger, and, the. high efilciency provided by the system of pulleys and endless cable, the hook it may be easily, quickly, and accurately adjusted to the GeSlIQdLPOSitlOIl, and with one hand, leaving the pilot substantially free to attend to themany other adjustments he has to make in the cockpit, especially when landing or'taking'ofi. H'e merely grasps, the operating handle instinctively, as he would a pistol, and moves it forwardly, or backwardly, to its extreme limits of travel, whereupon, on releasing the handle, the, trigger forcesrthe lock 33 upwardly into lockingfengagement with the .inside of the casing, and at the proper angle of adjustment of the hook;

Various. other ramifications and refinements of the invention are included within the scopev of thesubjoined claims; for example, the hook may retract. completelyinside the fuselage, and, the lock 33' maybe mad integral'with the rods] etc. Having now disclosed our invention, and .at least one. mode of executing it, in such full, clear, and exact terms, according to, statute, as to enable anyone skilled in the artto make and use same, what we claimas our invention and desire to securepby Letters Patent of the United States,

1'. An airplane arresting: gear, comprising a member for engaging'a complementary member extraneous to theairplane', a transverse'pivot for. the first said member in the bottom of the fuse lage, a portion of: said first member projecting upwardly into said fuselage to constitute said first member a bellcrank, a spring-loaded endless cable having one terminus attached toone arm of said bellcrank near its pivotand'one terminus attached to; said armnearer its upper end, and a substantially frictionless, non-rotatable, forceapplying member in mechanical circuit with said cable for retracting and extending said engaging member.

2.. A c'ontrol'device' for retracting and extending'thelarresting gear of an. anelongated, hollow member, longitudinal member therein, connecting means-1 for applying force to theagear, meanson said connecting means for supportingsame insaid hollow mem-- her by contact with the walls-thereof, a spring-- loaded plunger therein, a wall of the-elongate. member having. apertures. at positionscorresponding respectively to the, retracted-and extended positions of the. arrestinggean, and

aircraft; comprising 4 adapted toembrace said plunger, and manuallyinstinctive means for unlocking and moving said longitudinal member from arresting gear retracted to arresting gear extended positions, and

vice-versa.

3. A, control apparatus for retracting and extending a. cable-operated arresting hook on an airplane, comprising a hollow elongate casing member, a pairof united, centrally bowed members therein; ear clamps for the cable .at each endof said members, a vertically extended ballbearing roller mounted on a horizontal axis in each of saidiears, and rollable along the top and thebottom walls of said casing-member, and a pair of horizontally extending ball-bearing rollers mounted on vertical axes in the central portion of said? united longitudinal members.

4. A control apparatus for retracting and ex-. tending a cable-operatedarresting hook, comprising a hollow, elongated casing member, a pair of united elongated members frictionlessly mounted therein,- the bottom wall of the casing member having a longitudinal slot therein, a pistol grip member extending downwardly therethrough, a well extending substantially vertically of saidunited elongated members, a headed-plunger therein, a helical spring therearound and loading saidplunger, the upper wall of said hollow casin having apertures therein at suitable points, a detent-member forbeing forced into one or the other of said apertures on occasion, and a bellcrank leverpivoted to said pistol grip in the position of a trigger, one arm of said lever-acting as a trigger and the other being pivotally attached to the lower end of said'plunger for actuating same.

51 In an airplane arresting gear, a control member comprising a casing having a longitudinal slot through its wall, amember reciprocable therein and'having a portion thereof extending outwardly through said slot to provide a hand grip, a lock member carried by said reciprocable member, anabutmentassociated with said cas means yieldably urging said lock member in the abutment in one posiing, a direction' .to engage tion-of the reciprocable member and a trigger associated with the the hand grip for disengaging from the abutment.

6. An airplane arrestinggear comprising-an arresting hook pivotally mountedu pon the fuselage of the airplane and having an extension located on the oppositeside of the pivotalmounting from the shank of said hook, a cable having its ends, connected to said extension so as to 'rotate' thehook in opposite directions ab'outits pivotal mounting according to the directionofpull upon the cable, guides supporting said' cable in the form'of a loop, and-a control member-in circuit withsaid cable, said control member com-'- prising amember adapted to reciprocate within a' casing and" having a hand grip extending beeyond said casing the arrangement being such that movement of thereciprocable member in a direction forwardlyof the airplane lowers thehook', means for locking said reciprocable. member againstmovement in the casing and atrigger associated withthe-reciprocable member for actuatingsaid locking means.

' GEQRGE:-,W; LESCHER.

WALTER'I-I. STEET.

reciprocable member adjacent the lock member 

